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\A/38 NORTH CAROLINA 




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PHILADRIiPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1891. 




Class. 



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Book_-., \M 32 



NORTH CAROLINA. 







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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. liJPPTNCOTT COMPANY. 

1891. 



Copyright, 1891, by J. B. Lippincott Company. 




NORTH CAROLINA. 



North Carolina, one of the thirteen original United 
States of America, is situated on the Atlantic seaboard, 
south of Virginia, in 33° 50^ — 36° 33^ N. lat., and 75° 
27' — 84° 30^ W. long. Its extreme length is about 
500, its breadth 186 miles. Area, 52,250 sq. m., or 
larger than that of England. 

The eastern part of the state is low, and in some 
parts swampy, the central part undulating, and the 
western mountainous; but everywhere, except in lim- 
ited areas in the eastern section, the soil is remarkably 
fertile and the climate salubrious. The highest moun- 
tains in the United States east of the Mississippi are 
in North Carolina, at least twelve peaks being higher 
than Mount Washington, in the White Mountains, and 
more than fifty exceeding 6000 feet in altitude — 
Mitchell's Peak (6707 feet) the highest. Most of these 
are clothed to their tops with thick forests, but some 
have prairie-like summits covered with deep turf. All 
this picturesque region, known as * the Land of the 
Sky,' is a favourite resort in summer for southerners 
and in winter for northerners. 

North Carolina is rich in mineral products. The 



4 NORTH CAROLINA. 

value of its gold and silver deposited for coinage and 
assay from 1793 to 1891 exceeds ;^ 12,000,000. A 
branch U, S. mint was established at Charlotte in 1838, 
and has since 1873 been continued as an assay office. 
Silver occurs associated with lead in Clay and David- 
son counties, and zinc in the latter county. Iron is 
widely disseminated in the form of specular ores, 
hematites and magnetites; copper and plumbago also 
are found in many counties. Coal of excellent quality 
has been profitably mined in the vicinity of Deep 
River, and is abundant, too, near the Dan River. 
There are valuable deposits of corundum and extensive 
beds of mica in the west; and more than 150 species 
of gems, &c. are found in the state, including the rich 
' hiddenite' or lithia-emerald, which is not known to 
occur elsewhere. Granite and marble abound in some 
localities, and there are valuable phosphate beds in the 
eastern section. 

Maize has hitherto been the principal agricultural 
product, but has recently been rivalled by cotton in 
the annual value of its crop. Wheat, oats, hay, to- 
bacco, and sweet potatoes are the next most valuable 
products of the soil. One of the chief industries in 
eastern North Carolina has long been the production 
of tar, rosin, and spirits of turpentine from the forests 
of long-leaved pin^ [Plmis palnstris) and allied species. 
The manufacturing industries until 1880 were limited, 
but since that date the spindles and looms for the 
manufacture of cotton and woollen fabrics have been 
largely increased, tobacco-factories have been estab- 
lished and enlarged, and in 1888 the first silk-factory 
in the southern states was established. Fisheries con- 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



5 



stitute a profitable industry along the coast, and 
employ from 6000 to 7000 men. 

North Carolina contains 96 counties, and returns 
nine members to congress. It has about 3000 miles 
of railway. The chief port and largest city is Wil- 
mington, the capital Raleigh. Parts of the state are 
deficient in good schools, but there are excellent 
graded schools in the principal towns. Besides several 
denominational colleges, there is a state university 
(1795) at Chapel Hill, and a state agricultural college 
was established at Raleigh in 1889. There are asylums 
for the insane at Goldsboro, Raleigh, and Morganton 
— the first for negroes only ; and provision is also 
made by the state for the blind and deaf-mutes, both 
white and black. The penitentiary has about 1300 
convicts, but most of them are hired out by contract. 

History. — In 1584 Raleigh's first expedition landed 
on Roanoke Island, and was kindly received. In 
1585, 1586, and 1587 Raleigh planted colonies on the 
island, but the first returned with Drake in 1586, and 
the others were destroyed. In 1629 Charles I., claim- 
ing under Cabot's discovery, granted to Sir Robert 
Heath the territory, also claimed by Spain and called 
Florida, from lat. 30° to 36° as Carolana Florida. By 
the English it was called both Carolana and Carolina. 
In 1653 a colony from Virginia settled on the banks of 
the Roanoke and Chowan rivers : this was the first 
permanent settlement in North Carolina. In 1663 
Charles II. granted the region across the continent 
between lat. 31° and 36° to eight of his favourites, 
under the name of Carolina. In June 1665 the king 
extended the limits of Carolina to 29° on the S. and 



5 NORTH CAROLINA. 

to 36° 30' N. The proprietors, ' to avoid erecting a 
numerous democracy' in Carolina, adopted a Utopian 
form of 'fundamental constitutions,' prepared by John 
Locke and Shaftesbury, which recognised a nobility 
of landgraves and cassiques. The eldest proprietor 
was palatine, and the other seven had high-sounding 
titles. The proprietary rule ceased in 1729, when the 
king bought out the claims of the proprietors for 
;^2500 each, and North Carolina became a royal prov- 
ince. Under the administration of the second royal 
governor, Gabriel Johnston (1734-53), the colony in- 
creased in population from 14,000 to 45,000 and be- 
came very prosperous. The arbitrary rule of Gov- 
ernor Dobbs (1754-66) and Governor Tryon (1766-73) 
served to intensify the dislike of the people to the 
taxation policy of parliament ; and when the colonial 
assembly at Wilmington protested against taxation 
without representation it was dissolved by Governor 
Tryon. The Mecklenburg Convention met at Char- 
lotte and adopted a declaration of independence on 
May 20, 1775. The early years of the war (1775-83) 
were marked by bitter local and partisan conflicts 
between Whigs and Tories. In the years 1779-81 
North Carolina furnished about one-tenth of the Ameri- 
can army; still, it was the last state but one to ratify 
the federal constitution, November 21, 1789. It was 
the last, too, of the eleven Confederate States to pass 
in convention an ordinance of secession, May 21, 1861, 
which was not submitted to the people. The capture 
of Fort Fisher in January 1865 led to the federal 
occupation of Wilmington, the advance of the union 
forces on Raleigh, and the surrender of General Johns- 



NORTH CAROLINA. y 

ton, which practically ended the war of secession. 
Pop. (1800)487,103; (1840) 753,419; (1880) 1,399,750; 
(1890) 1,617,947 — making North Carolina the six- 
teenth state in order of population. Presidents Jack- 
son, Polk, and Johnson were natives ; and Flora Mac 
donald (q.v.) for a time resided here. 



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